Published: 22 February 2022
Last updated: 4 March 2024
PAULA TOWERS: The Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, which aims to help women take roles of religious leadership, expects to have 80-100 women on the books
A SPEAKERS BUREAU promoting Orthodox Jewish women launched this month looks set to end up with 80-100 women on its books, Nomi Kaltmann, the inaugural president of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance Australia (JOFA) told The Jewish Independent.
“There’s so few opportunities for Orthodox women, but [the bureau] is not limited to Orthodox women,” Kaltmann explained. “If they believe that what they have to say would be of value to an Orthodox community, we are happy to have them sign up as well.”
The topics of expertise of those who have signed up cover a broad range of areas, including Jewish philosophy, financial literacy, Jewish representation in film and television; consumer design, blockchain and digital security, managing the risks of climate change as a community, and understanding law for non-lawyers.
“There’s an amazing array of women from a variety of states, backgrounds, ages, and experiences and I think that’s reflected in what they do,” Kaltmann enthused.
Though the speakers come from four Australian states and territories, and mostly from NSW and Victoria, JOFA is hoping more women from the smaller communities will feel encouraged to join.
Kaltmann said one of the reasons for setting up the bureau was that community organisations had been trying to get women speakers and may have approached one or two but if they weren’t free, they may not have had a back-up.
Women can be highly qualified in their professional lives but because they’re not used to taking on roles of leadership in their religious lives, they lack the confidence to put themselves forward.
Cultural conditioning is also a factor. “Women can be highly qualified in their professional lives but because they’re not used to taking on roles of leadership in their religious lives, they lack the confidence to put themselves forward – making it increasingly difficult for synagogues to do the right thing,” she added.
